wrote
Rod Speed wrote

Whatever you like to call it. It has nothing to do with head
calibration, it's the zone of the disk under the ramp where the
heads approach the disk and establish a stable flying height.

Wrong. There was no ramp initially, that came later to avoid
stiction which happens due to the very smooth platter and head

No, it was the glue (used to keep the magnetic media on the aluminum
platters), would get sticky when hot, when the heads parked themselves,
the glue would cool down and the heads would become stuck.

Utterly mangled all over again. There was never any 'glue
(used to keep the magnetic media on the aluminum platters)'

Mostly a Seagate problem.

and the heads never ever deliberately contact the platter anymore,
because the heads dont get anywhere hear the platter from the
ramp until the platters are up to rotation speed and so the last
thing you want is a head crash. They certainly dont ever
deliberately 'the head hits the disk in order to find it'.

You should take the cover off a hard drive and watch how the heads operate,

You should with a modern drive.

you turn off the HD the heads move very quickly to the inner sector,

Not anymore.

where they sit, as the heads need air to float or lift themselves up

The heads actually fly.

- can't remember the effect that causes this

The heads are flying.

- but it was used on those old 8" floppies (in plastic cases).

Wrong again. 8" floppys were not in plastic cases,
they were just bigger versions of 51/4" floppy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fl...sk_2009_G1.jpg

The floppies would sag at the outside edge, and this
effect would bring the edges up and the floppy even.

Utterly mangled all over again. they were just bigger versions of 51/4" floppys.

(No, not centrifugal force)

They just rotate inside the jacket, just like 51/4" floppys do.

I've never seen a ramp,

You need to try a modern drive.

when I take a HD apart it's always the same the heads are as close to
the spindle as they can get, and all the heads are sitting on the platters.

You need to try a modern drive.